INTRODUCTION:

National Green Tribunal is a specialized statutory body set up under the National
Green Tribunal Act1 (2010) for effective and expeditious disposal of cases relating
to environmental protection and conservation of forests and other natural
resources.
With the establishment of the NGT, India became the third country in the world to
set up a specialized environmental tribunal, only after Australia and New Zealand,
and the first developing country to do so.
NGT is mandated to make disposal of applications or appeals finally within 6
months of filing of the same.
The NGT has five places of sittings, New Delhi is the Principal place of sitting and
Bhopal, Pune, Kolkata and Chennai are the other four.
The Tribunal comprises of the Chairperson, the Judicial Members and Expert
Members. They shall hold office for term of three years or till the age of sixty-five
years, whichever is earlier and are not eligible for reappointment.
The Chairperson is appointed by the Central Government in consultation with
Chief Justice of India (CJI).
A Selection Committee shall be formed by central government to appoint the
Judicial Members and Expert Members.
There are to be least 10 and maximum 20 full time Judicial members and Expert
Members in the tribunal.
Since its establishment the National Green Tribunal has given many landmark
judgements which impacted on larger levels on saving the environment and taking
our country more towards sustainable development rather than exploiting the
already limited natural resources. Although many such judgements came at a price
of closing down many of the governments ambitious plans but the plans can be
remade but once the habitat and natural resources are extinguished they cannot be.
Hence these judgement were very necessary and establishing a dedicated Tribunal
for the same was a great step. Some of the landmark judgement which had greater
effects in protecting the environment has been mentioned below.

1
National Green Tribunal Act, 2010 (No. 19 of 2010)
THE NATIONAL GREEN TRIBUNAL
The National Green Tribunal (NGT) is a specialized body that was formed under
the NGT Act, 2010 for effective and expeditious disposal of cases that are related
to the protection and conservation of the environment, forests, and other natural
resources. India has become the third country in the world after Australia and New
Zealand, for setting up a specialized environmental tribunal and also the first
developing country to do so. The National Green Tribunal has a total of five places
of sittings namely: Bhopal, Pune, New Delhi, Kolkata, and Chennai, amongst
which, New Delhi is the Principal place of sitting.
Objectives of National Green Tribunal (NGT)
Some of the major objectives of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) are as follows:
 Effective and expeditious disposal of cases that are related to the protection
and conservation of the environment, forests, and other natural resources.
 To give relief and compensations for any damages caused to persons and
properties.
 To handle various environmental disputes that involve multi-disciplinary
issues.
Structure of NGT
The National Green Tribunal (NGT) comprises three major bodies namely:
1. The Chairperson
2. The Judicial Members, and
3. The Expert Members.
Also, there should be a minimum of 10 and a maximum of 20 fulltime Judicial as
well as Expert members in the NGT.
Term of NGT Members
All these members are required to hold the office for five years and are not eligible
for reappointment.
Who appoints NGT Chairman?
The Chairperson of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) is appointed by the Central
Government of India in accordance with the Chief Justice of India.
Who appoints NGT members?
A Selection Committee is formed by the central government of India for the
appointment of Judicial Members and Expert Members.

Landmark Cases:
1.Save Mon Region Federation and Ors. vs. Union of India and Ors 2
Facts:
In this case, an appeal was filed through an organization named Save Mon Region
Federation in conjunction with a social activist in opposition to the grant of
Environmental Clearance given to an INR 6,400 crore hydro venture.
The stated task was located near the wintering site for a bird named Black-necked
Crane, which is a Schedule one species under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972
and comes under in the ‘Threatened Birds of India’ literature produced via way of
means of the Appellants. Apart from the birds, the vicinity turned into domestic to
numerous different endangered species inclusive of the snow leopard, red panda,
Arunachal macaque, etc.
Judgement:
The Tribunal proactively suspended the Environmental Clearance granted to the
Project.
The Tribunal directed the EAC to make a fresh appraisal of the thought for
environmental clearance furnish and requested the Ministry of Environment and
Forest to make a separate take a look at the safety of the stated bird.
2.Ms. Betty C. Alvares vs. The State of Goa and Ors.
Facts:

2
NGT, Appeal No. 39 Of 2012
A criticism concerning unlawful creation inside the Coastal Regulation Zone of
Candolim, Goa was raised by a person of overseas nationality whose name was
Betta Alvarez.
Before the case might be determined on deserves, the maintainability of the
primary complainant turned into a challenge.
Objections:
The first objection turned into that Betty Alvarez had no locus standi as she not an
Indian citizen and for this reason legally incompetent to report the petition under
Article 21.
The second objection was that the problem was excluded by the law of limitation
and has to be dismissed. The case had been initiated in the High Court of Bombay
Bench at Goa as a PIL. However, on Oct 23, 2012, it turned into a writ petition
turned and got transferred to the National Green Tribunal.
Judgment:
Regarding the primary and most important objection by the Respondents on this
matter, the Tribunal disagreed from taking the respondents’ side.
The Tribunal, boldly, phrased that even assuming that the Applicant – Betty
Alvarez wasn’t a citizen of India, the Application remains maintainable as she had
filed numerous different writ petitions and contempt programs earlier.
To reply to the problem about locus standi, the court said about Section 2(j) of the
National Green Tribunal Act, 2010 – the very act via way of means of which the
Tribunal has come into being.
Interpreting this section, the Tribunal observed that the word ‘man or woman’
merits to be construed in a wide feel to encompass an individual, whether or not a
countrywide or someone who isn’t always an Indian citizen. The Court mentioned
that going into the information of Betty’s nationality isn’t required.

3.Almitra H Patel v. UOI

Facts:

In this case, Mrs. Almitra Patel and others filed a PIL under Article 32 of the
Constitution of India before the Apex Court, whereby the petitioner sought an
immediate and urgent improvement of the practises currently adopted for the
treatment of municipal solid waste or garbage in India. The Supreme Court
transferred the case to the National Green Tribunal.

The Tribunal found that the severity of the issue was immense because every day
over a lakh tonnes of raw garbage is dumped and there is no proper treatment of
this raw garbage that is dumped on land, along highways, lakes, nalas etc.

As of 2012-2013, the entire country created over 13,3760 MT of waste every day
and this rate has increased over time.

Issue:

The measures to be taken to redress the drawbacks of the current solid waste
management system.

Decision:

Every state and UT were directed by the Tribunal to immediately enforce the Solid
Waste Management Rules, 2016 and prepare an action plan within 4 weeks in
terms of the Rules.

In addition, the Tribunal instructed the central government, state governments,

local bodies and all citizens, without delay, to fulfil their respective obligations
under the Rules.

A guideline has been released to ensure adequate segregation prior to waste

production in power plants. As required, it mandated the provision of buffer zones
around plants and landfills.

Absolute segregation of waste has been made compulsory for energy plants. and
landfills can only be used for the deposition of inert waste and are subject to bio-
stabilization within 6 months.

A complete prohibition of open burning of waste on land, including landfills, was

the most important direction of the Tribunal.
CONCLUSION:

Article 21 of the Indian Constitution has been interpreted mean several things. One
of such interpretations laid down by the court was that people do have a right to live
in a healthy environment right to have the enjoyment of quality of life and living and
right of enjoyment of pollution free water and air for full enjoyment of life. Inspired
from the constitutional provision under Article 21, the National Green Tribunal
through the National Green Tribunal Act, 2010 (Act 19 of 2010) came into being.
The objective of this forum was the expeditious disposal of cases relating to the
conservation of forests, protection of environment and natural resources.

Hence after just 7 years of establishment the National Green Tribunal has achieved
many big landmark judgement in just this short span of time which made tremendous
steps towards sustainable development and protection of environment. As more time
passes the Tribunal will surely bring environmental justice to the people of this
country and work towards ensuring sustainable development so that even our future
generations can enjoy natural resources to the fullest.
 BIBLIOGRAPHY

ONLINE SOURCES:
1. Z-library
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10. indiankanoon.org
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12. doj.gov.in
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15. legalserviceindia.com
16. lddashboard.legislative.gov.in

OFFLINE SOURCES:
1. Ecology, Environment and Resource Ecology, Environment and
Resource
Conservation by J.S. Singh, S.P. Singh and S.R. Gupta